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Colorado Springs Connection: In an effort to better connect Colorado College with the larger community of Colorado Springs, The Catalyst is featuring one community member a week. Photos by David Andrews

John Ramsey spends most of his days in Tejon Street Music caring for guitars, banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles. His hands have seen thousands of instruments in the 40 years that Tejon Street Music has occupied 330 N. Tejon in downtown Colorado Springs. John opened the shop in 1976 and has recently brought aboard his son, Sean, to help him with the store’s website and social media platforms.

These days, Ramsey is working on a collection of 150 guitars that an American aid worker was looking to liquidate due to an assignment in Ukraine. In the 40 years that Ramsey has owned Tejon Street Music he has seen Colorado Springs change quite a bit. “The Citadel Mall used to be the edge of town,” said Ramsey, “but now, Colorado Springs has grown so much.” Tejon Street Music attracts a dedicated crowd of customers. During my time in the shop three customers came in to chat with John and strum on their collection of artfully crafted and meticulously cared for guitars and banjos. As the store enters the digital world John and Sean are expanding their business across the globe and have connected with customers in countries as far away as Germany.

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The Catalyst Newspaper

The Catalyst is a weekly independent newspaper produced and managed exclusively by the students of Colorado College.

Published for the benefit of the college community and the surrounding local area, the Catalyst aims to bring general interest and academic-oriented news, ideas, and opinions into greater collective view—to act as a catalyst for informed debate.